Special Gifts for Your Favorite People, 2016

We at The Wirecutter spend most of the year figuring out how to improve our readers lives with useful and thoughtful buying recommendations. But when it comes to gift-giving during the holidays, “the best” isn’t necessarily served by purely pragmatic suggestions. We believe the holidays offer an opportunity to set aside the simply utilitarian and to seek out truly special artifacts of profound sentiment—gifts that convey our deepest feelings about the people we love the most. When we give, we don’t just hand over an object—we communicate something beyond just purpose: the mutual joy, memories, and laughter on which our most treasured relationships are built. Everyone will choose a different thing to carry these feelings, and we hope you can find something that inspires you and your loved ones among this eclectic mix of tools, adornments, whimsical pairings, and daydream fuel.

You can’t beat our umbrella picks when it comes to value and performance, but they aren’t particularly fun to use. If your recipient (or, perhaps, you) already owns a 360° camera, they’re fortunate to have such a well-rounded means to capture a view, and they’ll undoubtedly be pleased with the opportunity of turning one of their panoramic photos into an immersive rainy-day view with an umbrella printed with a high-resolution image interior: the Panorella 360 Custom Umbrella is “a rainy day Oculus.” It’s perfect for a tech-industry friend in gloomy San Francisco or Seattle, or anyone with a penchant for whistling a tune to accessorize their rainy-day love affairs. But make sure your recipient isn’t superstitious and Chinese: “umbrella” in Chinese sounds like the word for “breaking up”!

Stare into these ring-shaped microcosms meticulously crafted from wood, resin, and beeswax by Vancouver-based jeweler Secret Wood and you’re peering into the physical manifestation of Waldeinsamkeit, the German word describing the ineffable feeling of communing with nature. Each moment in miniature is unique, poetic, and a little melancholic: the deafening quiet of a snow-covered forest, the towering dark silhouettes of pinnacles against a starlit night, the dreamy solitude of an underwater abyss. I’d give one of these rings to the friend who subscribes to miniature food cooking channels and who is not only unafraid of being alone with their thoughts.

A happily married friend once declared the secret to their long-lasting relationship wasn’t what the two mutually liked, but accordance in what they both disliked. She’s the sort of lovingly pessimistic soul with a perpetual Badtz-Maru expression who’d appreciate the senseless and random violence and quotidian despair portrayed in humorous detail within the pages of these 64-page coloring books, each ridiculous circumstance capable of turning the most serious frown upside down for its sheer absurdity.Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders ($20)

Photo: Atlas Obscura

“One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore.” So wrote French writer André Gide in his 1925 novel The Counterfeiters—more a metaphysical statement than a statement of intent to add another stamp to the passport. Armchair explorers with Indiana Jones or Lara Croft aspirations will find many of the faraway destinations documented in Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, and Ella Morton’s encyclopedic Atlas Obscura—a collection of weird and wonderful destinations from their website of the same name—most worthy of adding to their bucket lists. Where else would you find directions to the last standing tree of Ténéré in Africa, or the Meguro Parasitological Museum in Tokyo, other than within the pages of this unique travel book committed to the offbeat, curious, and downright weird? Before you give this tome, consider an ideal pairing: Hide an open-date/-destination plane ticket within the pages, along with a note promising (or challenging), “Let’s get lost.”

Hear that? That’s the sigh of relief you’ll hear when your cat-loving friend or family member’s eyes take in the promise of this cat puzzle-toy, not just because it’s equipped to keep the feline intellect challenged with an array of “pawsome” stimulating activities tapping into a kitty’s inquisitive tendencies, but also because it doesn’t look like the usual carpet-draped, crazy-cat-lady accessories prone to litter households in tatters. The feline 5-in-1 Activity Center is like a Mensa test—with snacks—for a cat. Gift one to anyone you know riddled with guilt about not spending enough time with their favorite feline because of work or travel. As ridiculous as it may seem to the non-feline inclined, giving the “purrfect” gift for my cat is analogous to gifting me something. Moshow knows what I’m talking about.

Our backyard planter box is currently populated with all sorts of fragrant herbs we use to enliven recipes, from dishes made from scratch to supplementing store-bought ingredients like marinara sauce. But I still remember and appreciate my former life as an apartment dweller, when access to a backyard space was mere fantasy. There, our kitchen windowsill became our best—and only—bet for growing edibles. We grew sprigs of mint, bunches of basil, and miniature canopies of cilantro to trim and add as finishing touches to dinners and the occasional cocktail. A single window-ledge garden became our lifeline to fragrance and flavor.

Something about these terrariumlike herb-growing capsules reminds me of the spaceship greenhouses in the 1972 eco-science fiction film, Silent Running. The self-watering design practically guarantees a healthy herb with just the addition of daily sunlight. Give one or an entire set of these Eco Planter herb kits to the person drifting and dreaming “one day … one day” about a garden to call their own, and keep their hopes alive one herbaceous sprig at a time.

As a child you’d think my nose was permanently affixed to a kimchi jar. The source of my fascination: the industrious activities of ants collected from our backyard and placed within the still pungent glass confines commandeered from the kitchen. As a 7-year-old David Attenborough in the making, the regimented ranks of workers, soldiers, drones, and queen were a fascinating society to behold, their pull irresistible. Today, I’m still apt to stop mid-stride to squat down to watch ants with the same wide-eyed, slack-jawed curiosity as my childhood self. These formicariums—aka ant farms, the entomological equivalent of an aquarium—are a much more elegant housing solution than those kimchi jars of my childhood … and a lot less malodorous, for both keeper and occupants. The Fortress Formicarium is a great gift for someone who believes one person’s pest is another person’s beloved pet.

Complete a marathon or cross the finish line on your bike and you’ll likely walk away with a medal and a T-shirt acknowledging your perseverance and accomplishment. Complete the entirety of a hiking trail and you’ll find no finish line, and there are no crowds waiting. And definitely no medal awaiting to commemorate your completed journey, no matter the distance. These personalized 3D printed topographical models constructed using GPS track files (.gpx) are for giving to those intrepid hikers whose legs carry more mileage than a 1988 Toyota Camry—the outdoor adventurers who’ve earned a trail name like “Wayseeker,” “Gotta Go,” or “Samwise Gamgee.” Sure, life is all about the journey, not just about the destination … but it sure is great to remember the entirety of those travels and trails.

Normally the idea of giving someone a light bulb as a holiday gift would strike me as a dim one at best. But the Plumen 003 is hardly a typical light bulb. Intricately detailed, this sophisticated light source plays homage to Danish designer Poul Henningsen’s iconic 1925 artichoke-skinned PH lamp. Encased in glass, the collection of tiered shades within form a golden faceted focal point—the shape isn’t merely aesthetic, but also responsible for softening the bulb’s LED output into a warm and flattering 2,400K glow devoid of harsh glare. Think of its output as an IRL Instagram filter that will impress upon any discriminating aesthete that you understand good design is most evident in the confluence between form and function. Every time they turn on or off the light, they’ll remember you gave them the most beautiful light bulb in existence.

The first iteration of this digital art display hangs on our living room wall, and ever since switching it on, I’ve discovered an unexpected and quiet pleasure observing friends’ eyes wander to glimpse at the mishmash of personal photographs and Internet artwork chosen from Electric Object’s community-generated library of more than 25,000 pieces of art. Just as some people fret over musical choices while hosting a party, I’ve carefully curated the visual equivalents of Spotify playlists to match many a mood, occasion, or guest list (next step: coordinating audio and the visual). This newer version offers more of the same—a 23″ 1080p HD LCD screen designed to display both static and animated digital art (or reproductions of museum scans)—in a markedly thinner package, with more responsive software, and (now) four frame finishes. I’m imagining this as a great gift for a graphic designer or digital artist, the one who always sends you the funniest or strangest animated gifs, who has long kept your favorite Tumblr feed, and whose own work is deserving of its very own gallery space.

My friends Kozy and Dan are avid divers, passionate naturalists, two of my favorite dining companions, and also happen to be accomplished artists with a penchant for mixing the hilariously absurd with the secretly profound. Over the years the pair has gently attempted to steer me away from eating seafood, such is their concern for the welfare of marine life, a love developed over the span of many years investigating the depths of the ocean around the globe. They’ve succeeded … up to a point: I’ve stopped eating my favorite cut of fish, otoro, the most choice cut from the increasingly scarce blue fin tuna. Kozy recently offered me a more sustainable and artistic replacement for my sacrifice: her one-of-a-kind handmade ceramic sushi sculptures, fashioned in the likeness of many of the most popular nigiri and rolls, including the fatty tuna I so love. Embellished in golden and silver lustre, the 1:1 scale sculptures will delight the sushi connoisseur … and perhaps even satiate a former one. Order one and Kozy might even include some ginger and wasabi with your sculpture.

You might have a friend who, at the sight of certain architectural structures, is known to point and hoot with the sort of incomprehensible sounds of excitement only Jane Goodall might recognize. Who probably frequents open houses simply to admire the homes of the past and present, seeing them as miniature design exhibitions with complimentary refreshments. Someone so smitten with architecture and design, they’ve named their pets after prominent figures of the era of design between the mid-1950s through the early 1960s. This pairing makes an ideal gift for that exceptionally passionate individual—one part conceptually representative of the building blocks of structure, the other an actual road map to guide them through their next hootin’-and-hollerin’ session.

I credit my friend and talented photographer Tom Medvedich for introducing me to the world of EDC (everyday carry), a subculture of enthusiasts committed the proverbial notion that one should “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.” The first time he emptied his pockets I was amazed that he’d hidden away the entirety of a toolbox, the deluge of accessories reflective of his pack-rat preparedness as a professional who has learned to always make do. Perhaps no surprise, EDC types also tend to be fidgeters, personalities prone to twirling pencils, tapping their feet, and rapping their fingers across surfaces—not so much in boredom, but in relief of excess energy and thought. This pocket-size device will soothe and satiate this incessant urge with the tactile and visual pleasures of a spinning mechanism that operates like the steampunk equivalent of Two Face’s coin flip.

What is this? You lean closer to inspect the earthen-hued growth bulging from the base of the tree, a molten form frozen into the shape of a natural shelf. You expect your touch to be met with a spongy give. Instead, it’s hard and unyielding, like dried, hardened leather. Peer closer underneath and minute perforations are evident across the fruiting body’s lighter-hued underside, the pores—whence this fruiting body sends out a near endless supply of reproductive spores—providing a microhabitat for all varieties of insects. You’ve come face to face with a polypore: specifically, a bracket or shelf fungus, one of the toughest and long-lived of fungi you’ll discover walking underneath a hardwood forest. It’s survivor, provider, and destroyer in one. Canadian atelier Concrete Cat has cast the semblance of this hardy fungus into an even hardier sculpture intended for a domestic purpose: shelving. As a gift, it will remind its recipient that the world is a lot more weird and wonderful if a closer look is taken, a nature-inspired example of beautiful decay captured forever more.Livada Fragrance Vase ($40)

Photo: Studio Macura

A scent isn’t just a sensation, it’s the imprint of a memory. Smells weave invisible associations between place, time, love, and loss, connecting us to years passed. The unforgettable scent of the nape of a lover’s neck at first embrace … the foreign cacophony of odors of a summer abroad—smells are often indescribable in absence, but instantly recognizable upon their return.

The Livada Fragrance Vase by Studio Macura of the Netherlands is intended for the nostalgic and the romantic; the two-piece glass enclosure is crafted to magnify the fleeting molecular phenomena of scent when paired with flowers and herbs. You can’t fit a whole bouquet in it, but with a recipient’s favorite bloom enclosed within, this vase becomes an olfactory memento mori, each concentrated smell a reminder that life’s pleasures are fleeting, but worthy of the effort, even if they last but for a moment.

Prometheus might have saved himself a great deal of suffering if he had just shared this inconspicuous pocket-sized fire starter instead of stealing Olympian flame. The backpack essential captures survivalist preparedness in an elegant and easy-to-use design: The ferrocerium rod and built-in scraper are a superior version of the traditional flint-and-steel, producing a spark so white hot (the manufacturer claims 5,000 °F) it can coax a flame from even damp tinder. An ingenious extending bellows design allows precise application of oxygen to fuel the flame from a safe distance if sticks, twigs, and leaves need additional help. Simply replace the rod every 1000 strikes.

Stash the Ultimate Fire Starter into one of the multiple compartments or loops offered by the Skinth Catch All, the lovechild of Batman’s utility belt and the distant cousin of the fanny pack (albeit, a notably more durable and much cooler looking hip-side accessory), and you’ve got an adventurer’s gift pack.

This pairing is for friends who do not believe it’s an adventure until you’ve hiked out of cell phone reception—the ever-prepared hiker, camper, and outdoors person whose tales embody the TV show I Shouldn’t Be Alive.

5,000 years ago, somewhere in what is now southeast Turkey, a group of players surround a collection of roughly hewn pieces made from stone, wood, and shell, each fashioned into the recognizable shapes of board game pieces. These Bronze Age participants huddle close, thoughtfully stroking their beards in eager anticipation, waiting to see chance smiles or smirks upon player one as he throws a die accompanied by a collection of wooden sticks (their meaning since lost to time). The assortment of stone and wood lands in staccato. Arms are raised, shouts echo—one in glee, three in groans. Winner takes all.

Fast-forward to today and you’ll note that board games have made a heroic return in the form of Jamey Stegmaier’s board game opus, Scythe. Set in an alternate 1920s dominated by the towering threat of robotic authorities, this epic hybrid card/board game is for the geekiest of friends with whom you hope to spend more time—a lot more time—in the name of friendly competition.

Scythe isn’t for one-hour social nights (when it might be better to look to Uno or Cards Against Humanity), but for participants willing to navigate a dizzying array of strategic options, organize a plethora of detailed game pieces across an expansive board, and likely to appreciate the most fully realized imaginary realm this side of Westworld. Throw in a bottle of Anatolian wine to toast those early Bronze Age players and you’ve got the makings of history repeating itself 5,000 years later.

Jiro may dream of sushi, but I guarantee he spends more time honing and caring for his knives while awake.

The Sakai Takayuki Doi Blue Steel 7.7″ blade may cost $700, and is far more knife than most home cooks need, but it epitomizes Japanese hand-forged cutlery, made with the same exacting techniques used to forge samurai swords centuries ago. Craftsman Itsuo Doi is only capable of producing about 12 of these wickedly sharp blades per day, working without mold or measurement and hand sharpening each against stone before slipping it into an ebony wood handle. Each knife is made to the standards set before him by his father, the legendary blacksmith Keijiro Doi, a man bestowed the honorific of “Living National Treasure” by the Japanese government. The resulting knives are highly coveted for their high Rockwell Hardness score (62), which imparts a long-lasting sharp edge that earns them a place in the kitchens of four-star chefs like Thomas Keller and Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

The double-edged gyutou chef’s knife is more versatile than a traditional single-bevel blade and is forged to a very maneuverable length that would make this a fantastic all-purpose knife and a pragmatic heirloom.Cheese Degrees Cutting Board ($20)

Photo: Fred & Friends

Essayist Clifton Fadiman called cheese “milk’s leap toward immortality.” James Joyce reflected more solemnly, referring to cheese as the “corpse of milk.” Most recently, a friend’s ever-observant son accurately described our domestic plastic wrapped facsimile as “cheese stickers.” Cheese regularly inspires such contemplation (and in some instances, weird dreams). Health-inclined types will be quick to remind us we’re supposed to limit our daily intake to a single ounce—heretical, unless you’re a mouse. Give friends who like to watch what they eat one of these cutting boards engraved with precise measurements to aid in accurate portioning … then order yourself a wedge (wheel?) of Fiscalini Farms Bandage Cheddar to enjoy without such draconian limits. Win-win.

Bubbles in all of their forms are magical—delicate balancing acts between molecules pushing, pulling, and sandwiching one another to form micrometer-thick spherical enclosures that seem to defy gravity. A bubble’s appearance must be appreciated immediately, for any moment it can disappear back into the ether with the briefest “pop.” That is, unless you bequeath a special someone one of these glass and stainless steel chain necklaces, solidifying the ephemeral into perpetuity. This bubble bauble is best given to the special soul who floats through life with playful ease, grace, and beauty—a gift symbolic of the buoyancy of spirit they bring to your life.

With names like Diamondback, Cricket, Sidewinder, and Soleri, the Block Shop’s collection of silk-blend scarves is clearly intended for those drawn to the arid allure of the Southwest—free spirits compelled to seek solace under the cosmos rather than among the cosmopolitan. The graphical eight-piece collection is hand blocked by a fifth-generation master printer in Bagru, India. The 25 percent silk, 75 percent cotton scarf is versatile enough to convert to a wrap and blanket with ease, and can be tossed into a backpack or purse even more easily. Pick one out for the person you most want to take a road trip with in 2017—the one who always puts together the best playlists for long drives and never balks at turning down the road less traveled. Greet them with this scarf in hand and tell them, “Let’s go find where the Arizona moon meets the Arizona sun.”

It was the summer of 1986 and I was obsessed with an isometric puzzler inspired by M.C. Escher and miniature golf. Marble Madness was invitingly simple to begin, yet devilishly difficult to complete—a pixelated obstacle course challenging players to navigate a marble through precarious geometric landscapes populated with surging and swelling obstacles. I would have saved a lot of money (and sanity) if I had focused my marbled obsession on something like the Xyloba, a finely constructed physical manifestation of that horrible video game. Wood blocks, connecting ramps, and 16 sound bars combine into countless configurations. Gravity powers the marble ever downward, its trajectory marked tonally through each gateway. Marble madness turned into musical melody. Admittedly, this is an expensive activity set, but one that should have a long replay value over the years, with additional smaller sets available for abbreviated constructions and compositions.

We smell coffee before tasting it. With over 850 identifiable volatile aromatic compounds categorized and recognized, coffee’s allure is more about what we smell rather than what we taste (put this to the test by sipping your next cup while holding your nose). The Revelation Kit is designed to give novices and experts alike a standardized vocabulary to describe coffee aromas with the precision of a sommelier (unsurprisingly, the kit is based upon the le nez du vin wine aroma kits, a similar educational tool used by professional sommeliers to hone their noses).

We think this kit is best given to the coffee lover prone to sip, not gulp … the person who always buys their beans whole, is quick to share strong opinions about roasters and regions, and who regularly believes the next cup of coffee might be the damn finest ever. If their love of coffee extends to espresso, throw in a Science Coffee Portakey, a small multi-tool designed for the pockets of baristas with a soft spot for finer and finicky Italian machines.Rock & Pebble Shapes in Space Coloring Poster ($15) and Balloon Pin House ($30)

Photo: Clive Roddy

“Why do two colors, put one next to the other, sing? Can one really explain this? No. Just as one can never learn how to paint.”

As Picasso suggests, the alchemy of favorite color combinations is poorly served by words. But where words fail, a coloring poster of 80s-tastic abstract shapes and patterns may succeed in explaining the artist’s theory about the sonorous qualities of colors, harmonious or otherwise.

The small Balloon Pin House itself isn’t all too colorful, a miniature wooden abode sharing an unmistakable connection with a Pixar film about ascending to ebullient heights. But in its multicolored push-pin-as-balloons design, a joyful song about sprinkles on donuts, gumball machines, and birthday balloons is clearly audible, as seen.

A thorough biography tells you all the facts there are to know about a person’s life, but the format struggles to convey how they actually lived. Handcrafted Modern, by Leslie Williamson is my favorite photo book because it gives readers an intimate glimpse into the daily routines, work habits, and hospitality of some of America’s most prominent mid-century designers like George Nakashima, Ray & Charles Eames, and Russel Wright. Rather than focusing her camera on the subjects themselves, Williamson turns her lens toward their homes and possessions, presented as closely to their originally lived-in arrangement as possible—it has a mix of homes of people still living and house museums memorializing the deceased. Williamson’s exclusive use of natural lighting and medium format film lends a nostalgic glow to each photo that beautifully complements the subject matter.

The print-hanging frame from 2nd Shift Design Co. could make for a super charming gift. (I’m assuming you’ll also get some cool art for it as well; there’s a whole industry of poster reproductions if originals are beyond your reach). Inspired by vintage pull-down maps, the white oak frame comes in three different sizes to fit a variety of sizes of art. You could likely find something similar for much cheaper, but these are very nicely designed; the brass thumbscrews are just a smart touch. The frames also come in white.

Normally, when two high-end competitors for a niche market interact with one another, it’s in the form of competition. But when pu’erh tea sellers White2Tea and Crimson Lotus met up in China, they instead decided to collaborate on two teas designed for mixing. White2Tea made Dogs a “bitter and strong” blend, and Crimson Lotus created Cats which is “soft and sweet,” each of which can be drunk on its own or mixed with the other. These teas are only available as 100-gram bricks of raw pu’erh from each seller directly, and you’ll need either a tea pick or tea knife to pry the leaves loose for brewing. So give a brick each to a pair of friends, siblings, or partners who can team up to make the perfect blend—or keep one and give one to someone you care about so you have an excuse to get together and tweak your brew. But if your recipient isn’t already a tea aficionado, you might want to include a tea steeper, and a handwritten note about how to brew a pu’erh.

A friend of mine has a MOVA Globe; I’m obsessed with it, and desperately want one of my own. There is something charming, retro, and whimsical about a globe that enchanted me as a child and still fascinates me now. Enclosed in a clear outer shell is a floating inner sphere that perpetually rotates and is powered by ambient light. The detailed designs on the inner sphere are beautifully rendered. Personally, I am partial to their world maps and planet designs, but they have fine artwork and sports globes as well. Choose a globe design and a base design that fits your recipient’s aesthetic, and maybe a card about how they mean the world to you.

The best pillow I’ve ever used weighs 10 pounds and is full of polished buckwheat hulls. It’s far more comfortable than it sounds. Buy it for the side sleepers on your list, and you’ll change their lives. The buckwheat hulls are easy to form into the right shape and height to support your head, without trapping heat like foam does. And as Xeni Jardin points out in the Boing Boing gift guide (where I learned about it), it’s a heck of a thing to bring to a pillow fight.

—Nathan Edwards, PC editor

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Gregory Han is a design and lifestyle writer. His work can be found at Design Milk, Apartment Therapy, The Bold Italic, KCET, and Lonny. He can be found with hiking poles or fork in hand, exploring trails and new dining experiences with equal curiosity.

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